-BBC Global efforts to cut the number of deaths from measles have fallen short of World Health Organization (WHO) targets. An analysis published in the Lancet said deaths had fallen by 74% between 2000 and 2010, but the target was 90%. Outbreaks in Africa and delays in Vaccination Programmes in India have stalled progress, researchers say. A new campaign to tackle the disease has been launched, which will combine measles and rubella jabs. In 2000...

The accredited social health activists (ASHAs) — the first port of call for health care under the National Rural Health Mission (NRHM) — will be entrusted with additional responsibilities, albeit with better monetary incentives, as the Mission Steering Group – the highest decision making body of the NRHM — has approved the proposal for involving them in activities such as spacing between births, promoting iodised salt and village sanitation. The ASHAs...

India has not reported a single polio case over the past one year, but Bihar has gone a step further by maintaining a clean slate for the past 16 months. The World Health Organisation (WHO) recently deleted India from the list of polio endemic countries, the first time that the country has been ticked out of the map. The last polio case in India was reported from Howrah district of Bengal on...

Just over five years ago, a global study had labelled India the world’s “lone polio exporter”, prompting the United Nations secretary-general to write a letter of concern to Manmohan Singh. Even three years ago, anti-polio workers in western Uttar Pradesh, then the disease’s epicentre in India, were often abused and driven away when they came to the villages for the Vaccination Programme. Such memories today flooded into the minds of doctors and...

While welcoming the report of the High Level Expert Group on Universal Health Coverage for India for its comprehensive vision and many well-conceived recommendations, this article focuses on the conditions needed for its promise to bear fruit. Towards this, it explores the political dimension, which comprises the forces and interests that come into play to shape and reconfigure administrative policy and its implementation.   We are grateful to Anand Zachariah and Susie...